New Haven 5K
What a wonderful day today! (Although trying to post about it - and dealing with stupid Blogger, and the ridiculously unreliable Internet Explorer - is really annoying the heck out of me!)
I had an early start today, as my friends and I left the Bronx about 6 in the morning. On the bright side, there was no traffic, as we headed out to New Haven. It's actually not that far, but we didn't want to be late.
We were there pretty early, and it was kind of cool to be able to park so close to the race. I went back and forth to the car a few times before the start of the race. (Kind of a secure baggage area.)
("Albert Einstein Road Runners")
We met Dianna, Bill, David, and Jon before the race. (We only met April Anne and Michelle afterwards.) Like usual, all the RBFers were as nice in person as you would guess from reading their blogs. We took a few pictures, watched the kids races a little, and then headed off to the start.
It was the first race for both of my friends, and they were pretty psyched at the start of the race. I was too, since it had been a while since my last race in June. The weather was beautiful, and there was a little over 2,000 people running the 5K.
It took a while to get to the start line, but after that the traffic wasn't too bad. Our first split was about 8:50. Considering that we'd been doing about 10:30 miles in training, that was pretty good. We pushed a little harder for the second mile, and towards the end we started to spread out. However, two of us reached the second mile mark with about an 8:20 split.
During the third mile, I started to tire. About halfway through there was this band playing some funk type music, and I really felt energized. I really picked it up - for about a tenth of a mile. At this point my friend got a little ahead of me. I had this evil plan to save a little kick for the end, and catch him by the finish line. As we went on though, I didn't think I'd be able to do it. He looked back at one point, and I tried to wave him on. He was probably about 100 feet ahead of me when my Garmin showed about 2.95 miles. I didn't have much energy left, but I picked it up a bit to try and catch him.
Well, as it turned out the end wasn't that close. I still had about a third of a mile left to go, but since I didn't really know that, I just kept speeding up. I blew by him and was really running a super fast pace for that last little bit of the race. (I didn't feel so hot right at the finish, but that faded away after a minute or so.)
The numbers are a little off, but you can see the basic idea of increasingly faster miles, and a really fast final kick. My net time was 26:21, for an 8:29 pace. Not close to my PR, but considering how I've been running lately, I was quite pleased with the result.
My friends finished with net times of 26:28 and 28:36, both PR's. ;-)
We then picked up some food, and some ice at the medical tent, and watched the male 20K winners. Even though I'd never heard of any of the runners, it as still pretty exciting. It was really just a nice crowd out there.
(Incidentally, the winners were Ryan Hall for the men, and Marla Runyan for the women. I was pretty sure that Marla was blind, but when she was up on stage receiving her award, it really didn't seem that way. But I checked her website, and sure enough, she's legally blind. Just amazing.)
Afterwards, we hung out with the rest of the RBF gang. Everyone was really nice, and it was just so relaxing hanging out together. As my friends commented, it felt like we were "part of a big team".
I'm already looking forward to next year.
I had an early start today, as my friends and I left the Bronx about 6 in the morning. On the bright side, there was no traffic, as we headed out to New Haven. It's actually not that far, but we didn't want to be late.
We were there pretty early, and it was kind of cool to be able to park so close to the race. I went back and forth to the car a few times before the start of the race. (Kind of a secure baggage area.)
("Albert Einstein Road Runners")
We met Dianna, Bill, David, and Jon before the race. (We only met April Anne and Michelle afterwards.) Like usual, all the RBFers were as nice in person as you would guess from reading their blogs. We took a few pictures, watched the kids races a little, and then headed off to the start.
It was the first race for both of my friends, and they were pretty psyched at the start of the race. I was too, since it had been a while since my last race in June. The weather was beautiful, and there was a little over 2,000 people running the 5K.
It took a while to get to the start line, but after that the traffic wasn't too bad. Our first split was about 8:50. Considering that we'd been doing about 10:30 miles in training, that was pretty good. We pushed a little harder for the second mile, and towards the end we started to spread out. However, two of us reached the second mile mark with about an 8:20 split.
During the third mile, I started to tire. About halfway through there was this band playing some funk type music, and I really felt energized. I really picked it up - for about a tenth of a mile. At this point my friend got a little ahead of me. I had this evil plan to save a little kick for the end, and catch him by the finish line. As we went on though, I didn't think I'd be able to do it. He looked back at one point, and I tried to wave him on. He was probably about 100 feet ahead of me when my Garmin showed about 2.95 miles. I didn't have much energy left, but I picked it up a bit to try and catch him.
Well, as it turned out the end wasn't that close. I still had about a third of a mile left to go, but since I didn't really know that, I just kept speeding up. I blew by him and was really running a super fast pace for that last little bit of the race. (I didn't feel so hot right at the finish, but that faded away after a minute or so.)
The numbers are a little off, but you can see the basic idea of increasingly faster miles, and a really fast final kick. My net time was 26:21, for an 8:29 pace. Not close to my PR, but considering how I've been running lately, I was quite pleased with the result.
My friends finished with net times of 26:28 and 28:36, both PR's. ;-)
We then picked up some food, and some ice at the medical tent, and watched the male 20K winners. Even though I'd never heard of any of the runners, it as still pretty exciting. It was really just a nice crowd out there.
(Incidentally, the winners were Ryan Hall for the men, and Marla Runyan for the women. I was pretty sure that Marla was blind, but when she was up on stage receiving her award, it really didn't seem that way. But I checked her website, and sure enough, she's legally blind. Just amazing.)
Afterwards, we hung out with the rest of the RBF gang. Everyone was really nice, and it was just so relaxing hanging out together. As my friends commented, it felt like we were "part of a big team".
I'm already looking forward to next year.
posted by Danny on Monday, September 04, 2006
8 Comments:
Danny, nicely done. Very cool that you got to meet some of the pioneers in this whole running blog thing. I'm so jealous.
You put forth a pretty decent effort out there today. Congrats. BTW, its not nice to pass your friends in their first race, is it? Just kidding. 8-)
So great to finally meet you! I am looking forward to next year as well. It's a great race with a fun atmosphere and good times. Hopefully our RBF count will increase next year as more hear how much fun we have! :)
Way to go, Einstein!
How fun!! I've gotta do that race one day!
I can't believe so many people were wearing long sleeves, crazy!!!
I'm thinking we should push Mark to sponsor us with free "Team RBF" running shirts.
A greaty day for a race, Danny. I hope your running partners liked it as well. They kinda had that look on their faces like "So these are the online psychos you talk to?". Time to get them to start a blog. :)
Next year, the 20K.
Nice race, it was nice meeting you!
Nice job! Looks like a good time too:) Unfortunately I couldn't go this year due to weddings out the wazoo...two that particular weekend!!
wow wow wow!!!! you just jog along in training and then you take off like a rocket at the race (which, btw is in my home town!) Let's hope that strategy works for me too!
GREAT JOB!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home